"2pints" wrote:
Just tried the voice search, and just like the text search it is next to useless, as it seems to miss most, if not all of the key UK services
The only thing Roku has going for it in the UK, is that it covers all of the catch up services, and all of the main IPTV services.
If Amazons fire TV had Now TV, and Youtube ( officially ) then Roku would be dead in the water.
Roku in the UK has four things that particularly matter here that it desperately needs, in order of priority:
1) The enhanced voice search (coming, today we are told?) expanded to cover at least the main services. Even just adding Auntie Beeb first would be a sign Roku is making an effort to get people buying over here. Excluding the main channels just makes people wonder if Roku are committed to the market or if they are going to disappear again like they did straight after releasing their first UK players. They've only just returned, and they need to show major commitment now to win back hearts and minds. Getting the Stick+ into actual shops rather than just online would help, as I only ever see the Express trying to compete on the shelves against the much higher end models from others. Having a competitive voice search to sell might make that easier.
2) Support for 50Hz output. Finally Roku will vary the output frequency to match the source, but they forgot to add support for 50Hz (certainly in 1080p mode, I hear it might sometimes work in 4K mode but this is not clear). Instead we see everything in the less than ideal 25Hz which many sets do not support (luckily mine does) so it ends up defaulting to 60Hz which looks bad for a 50Hz source. Since most TV sources in the UK are 50Hz that is a big problem (films are usually 24Hz just like the US which is supported).
3) The one main UK TV service they still need to attract is BT Sport. This is a paid service and not one I'm interested in, but a huge number of people are. I believe, to get all the matches in these big world events one needs both Sky Sport (available) and BT Sport (not available). A stick that could do both would be an easy sell during footie season.
4) OK, so this is in Auntie Beeb's court but Roku really ought to start some serious encouragement. BBC iPlayer no longer seems to do BBC Radio catchup. Whilst other channels carry the live radio streams, nothing seems to cover the BBC radio catchup service anymore. BBC generally advise people to use the web browser in such circumstances, but Roku sticks still don't have that option. That's why Roku particularly needs a specific channel for BBC Radio. Even if the channel is nothing but a simple web wrapper that would be fine.
So they could add Dolby Vision via software to compete with the offerings of others but I doubt many would benefit and that would not be a specific focus of UK customers.
Beyond that, I think Roku is well suited to the UK. Best stick on offer by far due to it's independence (except for Stick PCs, but they do require regular fiddling). Not much to tweak to get there either. All that's needed is a little will power, a little commitment and a project for a couple of interested people at Roku Towers.
Chances?
